A Gendered Post Keynesian–Institutional Analysis

Post Keynesian analyses of monetary production have not given much attention to households as institutions, while a good deal of the literature in feminist economics discusses households in a strictly microeconomic context, with little consideration of monetary phenomena. This book, a unique study of the capitalist economy, utilizes a distinctive combination of Post Keynesian, institutional, and gender analysis to examine household economics in capitalist society in order to flesh out the gaps in each.

Chapter 6: Social Intelligence and Households Under Capitalism: Conclusions and Further Explorations

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6. Social intelligence and households under capitalism: conclusions and further explorations John Dewey stresses that the special feature of human beings is their intelligence, without which humans lose their niche within the ecosystem (Hickman 1900, 203). The failure to use technologically feasible tools is a demonstration of a deterioration of social intelligence. Thus restricting resources on a ceremonial (pecuniary) rather than an instrumental basis through business enterprises’ sabotage of production, or through the state notion of sound finance is a departure from social intelligence. Furthermore, a non-critical approach to social institutions, including the functions of the state, the evolution of households, and the importance of gender relations is also a part of preventing the application of instrumental feasibility over ceremonial feasibility in problem solving. In our context, social intelligence includes socialization of investment and functional finance, which deal mainly with the problems created by the monetary production process, as well as transformation of gender relations, which will address the ceremonial methods of valuation embodied in the gender process. These two sides are, however, interwoven: the content of functional finance and the socialization of investment become elements of the gender process. The conception of households as individualized private units that are fully responsible for their own survival is an ideological construct that is intertwined with the gender process, that is, notions and practices of femininity and masculinity. Households are anthropogenic going concerns. The aspirations, desires and goals of individuals are bound with a technological structure, or material conditions. While influenced by...

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